Indi's first agility trial

My black dog ran in her first and second agility trials this month. We have lots more to work on but she did very well for her first time out.

Our very first run was perfect, nice and smooth. Though I did cut it a little close on the blind cross after the chute! I'm still not super great at judging when it is safe to use a blind.

We knocked a few bars and went around a few jumps on the next runs so did not qualify.
Last run of the two day trial, I think Indi's brain was tired. She started out well and then wanted to play. She jumped up at me to try and bite my hat strings and just didn't cooperate on a few sections of the course.
 Here is that video. It is entertaining!

Overall I loved her enthusiasm and I know she enjoyed herself, as did I! I haven't worked that hard on making practice JUST like a trial in that her reward comes after we leave the course, after we put the leash back on. So that was new for her. I used a tug toy to warm her up which she actually wasn't crazy into like she is in practice and I used food as a reward at the end. In practice I have been using a combination of ball/tug/food but to be honest, mostly ball since it is her favorite. She has a lot of drive for the obstacles themselves in practice and I think it has transferred fairly well into the trial ring.
 Neither Amber nor Rye would ever accept a tug toy as a reward in a trial environment, it was always food. With Indi's tug drive in practice I thought she would  for sure play with me as a reward but we haven't got to that point quite yet apparently! And a ball tossed to her while she is on leash is just....underwhelming...

 She is so much fun to train. It is a high, running with her.
We have one last show for the summer coming up this weekend, wish us luck!

Take a walk in the hills of Idaho

We found a new hiking spot. A little further outside of Boise than we normally go but not that far.
It's called Macks Creek.

 The creek was small but it was there. Just enough in some spots to get Rye muddy. He loves to lie down in water, muddy or clean.

 He is such a good trail dog. He never has been that big of a runner, for a Setter. He is good at keeping an eye on our location and always finds us quickly if he does venture off into the brush.
He has been known to run the exact opposite direction from where we are though and I never thought it was him not listening. He just gets confused!
I try not to call him unless I have to because I think it adds to the confusion. I have seen him running towards us from a distance, I call his name and he turns around and starts running the opposite direction. Like he heard my voice coming from that direction!
I have found that cupping my hands around my mouth to call really helps focus the sound better.

 

 

As good as Rye is off leash, Indi is better. I never ever have to wonder where she is. She stays very close. She won't even go down to the creek without me going too if it's off the trail a ways. Rye will at least go get a drink on his own!  Rye is good at finding water.
Indi has developed much more confidence out in nature than when we first got her.  I have not had her spook at anything for a very long time and she just seems comfortable out there where she didn't always before. We have not met deer yet but I tend to think that she would be cautious of them and not give chase.

Oh, how Rye loves to wallow! He is so cute when he finds that perfect little watering hole and he sinks down in.

 

Claudia Fugazza seminar

Do as I do!

I got to attend the most interesting seminar this weekend. Claudia is from Italy where she has been doing various research on something called social learning in dogs. Social learning would be learning new behaviors by observing others.

If you have watched Dogs Decoded you know of the experiment involving pointing. A dog sits in front of two cups, human puts treat under one cup and then points at that cup. A dog can follow your pointing hand. They can also follow your pointing head and even your pointing eyes! I tried this with Indi and yes, even the eyes work! They tried the same experiment on Chimpanzees and also on Wolves and neither creature had the same capability that a dog does to follow our pointing gesture.

Claudia mentioned this experiment and also told about a similar one involving a fence with a door in it. The researchers would put an object like a bone on the other side of the fence and then have a person walk around the fence to the object and back, to demonstrate to the dog how to get to it. The dog did then go around the fence. They then opened the door in the fence which was right in front of the dog. The person went around the fence again to show the dog how to get there and the dog then did that same thing, went around the fence, not through the door. This told the researchers that dogs seem to prefer the "socially learned" method to the easier method. Hmmm. Maybe the dog didn't notice the open door? But still, neat!

For the seminar our dog had to know three behaviors on verbal command only. I picked "shake" (meaning to shake hands), "get it" (to pick up something), and "turn". They should be behaviors that you can in some way mimic easily.
You have to do these sessions in the same orientation every time, so you cannot have your dog in front of you for one lesson and then at your side the next. It is useful for them to be in front of you so they can see what you are doing easier. The other key is, if you are using an object, like "touch that cone" or "get it", you have to have that object right there near you and your dog throughout the session.

So I'm standing there in front of my dog and trying to remember the proper order in which I am supposed to say things and not make a total fool of myself (while on stage with a microphone of course)...

Start by telling your dog to sit and stay (Claudia has her reasons for it only being a sit). Next, you perform your version of the command. For shake I used what Indi does with her paw, she paws at the air, waiting for my hand. Now you tell your dog "do it". This is what everyone else used but I decided that since one of my commands was "get it" it sounded too similar so I changed my word to "copy". Next you give your dog their old known verbal command and they perform their trick, then reward.
Using your three behaviors, make sure to mix them up so you are not being predictable and no more than two times in a row for any of the commands. Your dog will eventually link your body motion with their old verbal command and start performing after they hear the "do it" instead of waiting for the verbal command. At the same time they are learning that "do it" means to copy your motions. This is the first step.
I will write more about it when we move on to the next step, generalization of the "do it" command!
Here we are practicing today. This is probably our 10th little practice session since yesterday.

What do you think, is this a useful training method? Does it make sense? Do you think a dog can actually learn to copy you? I am still not 100% sure on that but it is fun to try! At the seminar a Golden was on stage and he picked it up very quickly, he practiced maybe four times before he didn't need the old verbal command anymore. It was amazing!  He got the link between body motion and his old command, but what does that mean exactly?

late winter agility

Late Winter but starting to think about Spring! New garden boxes for my husband to build for me, hose projects, got my seeds from last year out of the fridge to look at (tomato, crook neck squash, green beans, spinach). Pretty soon all my veggies will be bone dry and I will want nothing to do with them! For now I am dreaming of eating fresh strawberries from my garden.
Here is late February in Boise. A few inches of new snow overnight and we woke up to this. By afternoon it had all melted off again.

My yard is small, small and soggy right now. We have room for all of the normal agility equipment but just barely. Indi can't build up too much speed in my little yard so we work on tight turns, contacts, weave entries.

 

What we really need work on is running a full sized course together! At class today we did a small sequence. It was only the second time she has been able to run on a full scale course. We started out pretty good, three jumps to the tunnel, jump, front cross, jump jump, throw ball. Then on our next turn we tried to go a little further into a slightly more challenging section of course. It showed me just how much more work we will need before we will be able to run a real course together! She is way out ahead of me. How the heck am I supposed to direct her from so far behind?!? I have never taught my dogs left and right commands, only "turn" and that always worked in the past. Whichever side my dog is on, turn means to turn your head away from me while I cross behind you. Maybe I need left and right? Maybe I need a faster brain/legs/body!

  I must say, she is everything I wanted in my next agility dog. Lots of drive!

 Now that I have her, what do I do with her? 

a handful

 Our daily routine involves something to tire out the puppy physically. Weekends we can almost always go on a hike of some kind somewhere. Weekdays I still take her to work with me and I take her out throughout the day to throw a ball and lately I've been practicing with a single agility jump there as well.
A first attempt at a jumping shot.

I've also started taking her to the park after work to throw her frisbee since it seems she is the most insane when we first come home. This helps a little to curb that enthusiasm!

I call this "Indiglow in the dark". Terrible picture but I had to try!

There is a little tree at this park that we've been using for "out" practice. We started close and I can now send her out around the tree from about 15 feet away, right or left, right side being easier for some reason. I send her out, she comes back in to my side, heel, turn, throw the frisbee and she's off like a 65 pound bullet.

I am using the advise given on one of Denise Fenzi's blogs (again). That of "placement of reward". Indi tends to wrap around my front when we heel, she wants to see my face and watch my frisbee hand. Her advise for this was a left hand turn (her head is turning away from me) and then throw the reward. Heel, heel, heel, TURN, throw toy. It feels like I am helping her get unbent somehow. It has definitely helped! But now she has started adding a turn where she thinks I might tell her to turn, anticipating. I am being too predictable!


So this snow we've had isn't too big a deal. It has kept us from doing any contact training though. It has canceled our agility classes too, booo. It makes for some beautiful hikes in the foothills though!

Boise in the background. We don't normally have this much snow for this long on the ground in Boise.

What we really disliked was the ice that came last week! A night of freezing rain and we woke up to the thickest, hardest to scrape ice on the windshields and roads and all that soft snow was covered in a layer of solid ice.
That meant no hikes in the hills, no frisbee at the park, not even any walks around the block!  Whatever is a certain black angel to do at such a time?

We can do obedience in the house, hiding games, throw food down the hall, it all helps a little but what she really wants is something involving RUNNING.
We have also resorted to the chews.
I found some cow's ears that seem to last a long time, like up to a half an hour. Bully sticks don't seem to last as long as I'd think they would but we use them sometimes. She does chew the antler we have but gets bored with it after not too long. I put stuff in kongs and offer those sometimes. Tonight I made a doggy quiche with turkey burger, eggs, ground parsley and turmeric, added for the crazy nutritive values it has (all mixed together and then baked).  That combo worked nicely shoved into a kong! The kitties loved it too.

This is Indi's preferred place to chew a bone, my lap. If she can't be on top of me chewing her bone, she likes to press it up against me while she chews it.

And one final shot, this was last weekend when I wasn't able to tire her out and decided it would be a good time to paint a little table I found at the thrift store.

Apparently No, leave it, means, Yes, touch it!

play and not play in Pocatello

We took the dogs on a trip to visit my dad this weekend.
 These pictures were taken along the way there, next to the Snake River at a place called Massacre Rocks State Park
Indi isn't satisfied with simply hiking, she has to harass Rye while he tries to hike. He sometimes decides to play back and sometimes gets angry at her for her obnoxious behavior. I let it go on for a minute or so, long enough to see if he is going to play or if he is not in the mood.
This was play.

A beautiful place to hike.

Pelicans!

Sand!

These pictures are from a hike with my dad. Pocatello, Idaho is FULL of beautiful foothill trails. Amazingly, it seems like hardly anyone uses them so we had it mostly to ourselves.

And this was not play, at least not from Rye's point of view. Indi running at him full speed, knocking into him. He gets as tough as he can, barking at her and she still doesn't listen. I have to take her collar and tell her to keep walking, then she stops.

Knock it off, black dog! I'm trying to eat snow!